


Care Brains

by Untherius



Category: Care Bears
Genre: Gen, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-05
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2017-11-28 06:25:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/671324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Untherius/pseuds/Untherius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When an otherwise typical social call on Grumpy Bear turns out to be anything but typical, Care-a-Lot finds itself besieged by something far more terrifying than any of the Care Bears could possibly have imagined.  And against this foe, there may be no victory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Funshine, Love-a-Lot, and True Heart strolled down the wide path that cut across the wide sward surrounding Castle Care-a-Lot. Sheep grazed here and there, keeping the grass cropped. Small white daisies and cheery yellow dandelions nestled down among the nipped-off blades.

Funshine dodged a small pile of sheep droppings. “Tell me again why we have all these sheep out here? They're...gross...and smelly.”

“But they're also soft and cute!” said Love-a-Lot.

“So are we,” said Funshine.

“Are you sure you haven't been spending too much time with Grumpy?” True Heart. asked

All three bears laughed. Grumpy was why they were outside the castle walls. While there hadn't been any recent trouble with the likes of No Heart and Dark Heart, one could never be too careful. In fact, Brave Heart had just built a prototype anti-siege engine. He, like most of the other Care Bears, was worried about reports that the Terror Bears had been sighted in the area. That never boded well.

“Brave Heart insists that we need to be able to see the enemy coming,” said True Heart. “And besides, it just looks a lot nicer than a field of head-high grass and thistles.”

Before long, the trio reached Grumpy's small hovel at the edge of the wood. No one knew why he insisted on keeping a separate residence outside the wall and, in true Grumpy style, he'd never been terribly forthcoming about it.

True Heart knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again. “Grumpy?” she called.

They heard something coming from somewhere behind the door. It sounded like footsteps, slow and dragging. It wasn't that Grumpy had ever been particularly energetic, but there was something different about the movements.

“Grumpy?” called True Heart again.

The only reply was a hollow moan. It was unlike anything any of the three bears had ever heard. They were all familiar with various kinds of moans, ones born out of both pain and despair. The sound coming from within Grumpy's dwelling was unearthly, evil even, and made their fur stand up on end in a most disconcerting way.

“What's that?” said Love-a-Lot.

“I don't know,” said Funshine, “but I don't like it one bit.”

True Heart shuddered. “Terror Bears?”

“What would Terror Bears be doing in Grumpy's place?” Funshine asked. “Besides, no one's ever heard them make any sort of sound.”

It was true. Terror Bears attacked without warning and without any sort of utterances whatsoever, save those that echoed in the minds of their victims.

The moaning and the shuffling came closer. Suddenly, the door shook from an impact against its interior side. It startled all three bears.

“Grumpy!” said Love-a-Lot. “That's no way to treat your friends!” she scolded. “We're coming in and we're going to talk!” At that, she twisted the doorknob and pushed.

“Wait,” said True Heart, “maybe we'd better...” But the door swung inward anyway.

Without warning, Grumpy lunged from inside, grabbed Love-a-Lot and bit her on the arm. Love-a-Lot shrieked in pain. But Grumpy didn't let go. Instead, he began to chew! Love-a-Lot's shriek became a howl of frantic pain and fear.

True Heart and Funshine rushed forward, pulling at Love-a-Lot. Grumpy refused to let go. Funshine struck the blue bear on the nose and Grumpy let go. Only he immediately grabbed Funshine and sank his teeth into Funshine's shoulder. Funshine howled in pain.

True Heart turned away from Love-a-Lot, who coddled her wounded, bleeding arm, and punched Grumpy square in the muzzle. Grumpy let go and Funshine stumbled backward. All three bears backed up hurriedly, gaping at Grumpy.

At least, it looked like Grumpy, but he'd changed. His eyes were vacant and slightly cloudy. Blood caked his muzzle and ran down his fur. A nasty-looking wound was clearly visible on his upper left arm and copious amounts of blood matted the fur around it. It looked like something had torn out a chunk of flesh right down to the bone. Grumpy moved with a strange, halting gait, like a sleepwalker or a stroke victim.

True Heart peered at Grumpy. “Grumpy? What happened to you?”

Grumpy answered only with that unearthly moan and lurched toward the bears.

True Heart ushered the other two, who were crying copiously in pain and fear, back toward the castle. Grumpy was in slow pursuit and the other three easily outran him.

* * *

True Heart, Love-a-Lot, and Funshine burst into the castle courtyard. “Close the gate!” bellowed True Heart.

Tenderheart, who was on duty, looked confused. “What? Why? It's the middle of the day!”

“Just do it!”

There was something in True Heart's tone that gave Tenderheart pause. He rushed toward the outer gate and watched as Grumpy shambled up the path straight toward him. He felt his fur stand up a little. He whirled around. “True Heart?” he called. “What's wrong with Grumpy?”

But True Heart had already retreated into the castle.

Wish walked up behind Tenderheart looking from the castle's interior to Tenderheart, to Grumpy, then back to Tenderheart. “What was all that?” she said.

“I don't know,” said Tenderheart, as he stepped into the gate house. He tripped the portcullis release and it came crashing down, coming to a stop with a loud _BANG!_ “But I have a very bad feeling about it,” he said as he came back out to stand next to Wish.

Grumpy tottered up, thrust his paws through the gaps in the portcullis and groped for the two other bears, moaning the whole time.

Wish stepped toward Grumpy.

“I don't think I'd do that if I were you,” said Tenderheart.

Wish didn't listen. “Grumpy, what's wrong? If it's about that thing we did that one time to make you start caring again...” Her voice cut off as Grumpy grabbed her and bit her on the paw. She shrieked and started flailing.  
Tenderheart grabbed Wish and pulled. After a moment, she came free, leaving a chunk of her paw in Grumpy's mouth. Wish sobbed and coddled her arm while Tenderheart stared at Grumpy, who stood there and chewed on the piece of Wish's paw.

Tenderheart ushered Wish back into the castle and sent her to the infirmary while he himself closed and barred the inner gate. He turned to Champ. “Champ, notify Brave Heart and call Council. We have a problem!”

Champ raised an eyebrow. “What sort of problem?” he said.

“I don't know, but I think it's bad...very bad.”

“What's that awful sound?” said Champ, looked toward the gate.

“That's Grumpy.”

“What's he...” began Champ as he stepped toward the gate.

Tenderheart stopped him with a paw across his shoulder. “I wouldn't, if I were you,” he said sternly.

“Why not?”

Tenderheart just looked at him. Something in Tenderheart's eyes told Champ that something was very, very wrong. He turned and trotted off into the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

Two hours later, the Central Council had assembled around the Care-a-Lot Round Table. Brave Heart Lion presided. Also present were Champ, Cheer, Tenderheart, Grams, Surprise, Hopeful Heart, Bright Heart Raccoon, and Proud Heart Cat.

“My friends,” said Brave Heart, “we have a problem.” He went on to relay the morning's events as they'd been reported by the bears involved. “At this point, Love-a-Lot, Funshine, and Wish are still in the infirmary. None of them are doing well. They've each developed a fever, probably in response to their wounds. Those wounds, however, aren't clotting properly and we don't know why. The usual herbal pain and fever remedies aren't working either. In short, our friends are suffering and there's nothing we can do to relieve it.

“Until we have a better idea of what's happening and why, I'm inclined to go to DefCon Four and declare a state of Suspicious Alert. Any questions or comments?”

Everyone looked at everyone else. The silence stretched from moments into what Brave Heart felt to be dozens of his own heartbeats. Finally, Bright Heart broke the silence.

“So...what do we do? Besides...uh...sorry, what's DefCon Four?”

Brave Heart suppressed a groan. He exhaled. “It's above normal readiness, Bright Heart. Increased intelligence watch and security measures. We go through this every time we have to deal with No Heart. So that means we can open the inner gate, but keep the portcullis closed. Then someone can try to get through to Grumpy. Tenderheart, I'd like you and Share to do that.”

Tenderheart shuddered.

“Hopeful Heart,” said Brave Heart, “I'd like you, Bright Heart, and Surprise to comfort the sick in any way you can. Just make sure you stay out of Smart Heart's way. If anyone can diagnose their condition, she can. Other than that, we'll all just have to keep watch. Any other questions?”

There were none.

“Then I declare this meeting adjourned.”

* * *

Brave Heart stood just outside the door to the infirmary. The rapidly-flickering whitish glare of the phosphorus torches, blended with the steadier yellow-orange glow of tallow and oil sconces lining the corridor. Over Smart Heart's shoulder, the others stood despondently.

Smart Heart held a clipboard against her chest, as if she were afraid to let anyone see what she'd written on the parchment attached to it. He could tell from the expression on the doctor's face that she didn't have good news.

She held out the board and briefly consulted her notes, then sighed. “Since my last report, all three of them developed severe chills, accompanied by a rise in their fevers. Which is about what you'd expect from any infection. About an hour ago, they lost consciousness, one after the other. Again, not unusual from any of the normal diseases.”

“So you know what this is?”

Smart Heart frowned. “Not exactly. It looks a lot like rabies. The fever, chills, delirium, loss of consciousness. But the wounds, those are different. They're still not clotting. The only way we've been able to keep the patients from losing too much blood has been to keep rebandaging. And that has limits. At this point, we can only slow the bleeding.”

“Which means...” He didn't have to finish the sentence.

Smart Heart nodded gravely. “The other thing about the wounds is their appearance. They...well, they're not normal. In addition to the inflammation, there's some necrosis, but not much sign of the usual immune response. There's no sign of developing pus, though it's a little early for that. But the strange thing is that there are small amounts of a black fluid, a little like ink, that I've never seen before.

“I recommend having someone stay with them overnight to change their bandages and write down anything unusual.”

Brave Heart nodded. “Do it. It's been a long day and I think we might think better after a good night's sleep.”

Brave Heart made his way up to his own chambers. For some of the bears, a good night's sleep might be difficult to achieve. He himself knew he could sleep through quite a bit. Still, it was all so disturbing.

Tenderheart and Share had failed to elicit any response from Grumpy other than the usual moaning and groping. They'd reported that there hadn't even been a single flicker of recognition. In short, despite all their efforts, nothing had changed with Grumpy.

Then there was the frightening rapidity with which whatever disease Grumpy had passed on to those he'd bitten had progressed. It was all so ominous.

He mixed a chamomile tea, which he let cool, then downed in one breath. Sleep came to him eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

Brave Heart heard the sounds of sorrow even before he'd rounded that particular turn in the corridor. He braced himself.

“They died!” wailed Cheer. Tears streamed down her cheeks. That was certainly not encouraging, especially not from Cheer.

Smart Heart, Tenderheart, and Hopeful Heart wore similarly glum expressions.

“What happened?” Brave Heart asked. “Aside from the obvious, I mean,” he added.

Smart Heart sighed heavily, then consulted her notes. “Some time after midnight...and this is basically the same for all three, er, patients, plus or minus twenty minutes or so...pulse and breathing became erratic. Perspiration rose sharply and fever spiked. This lasted until shortly before dawn. At that time, all three went into convulsions lasting for several minutes. That was followed by respiratory and cardiac failure. I declared each of them dead at zero-seven-thirty hours.”

Brave Heart blinked. “But...that quickly? How?”

Smart Heart shook her head slowly. “I wish I knew. But frankly, I have absolutely no idea. I've never seen or heard of anything that can kill that quickly. Aside from poisons, that is. Whatever it was came from Grumpy's mouth. 

But unless I have an opportunity to examine him, I won't know more.”

“What about the wounds? Can you find anything in those?”

Smart Heart nodded. “I swabbed them yesterday. I have cultures going, but it's too early for results. That the patients succumbed so quickly is very worrying. I'm not even sure I have the necessary equipment for a proper analysis. I might have to send the samples out...by the back door, of course. A couple of days to get there, maybe a week there, we're looking at roughly two weeks' lead time for that.”

Brave Heart sighed through his nose. “Well, I suppose it can't get worse than dead, can it?”

“No, not unless the ancient stories are true, that is.”

Brave Heart's brow rose slightly. “What stories?”

Smart Heart made a dismissive gesture. “Old folk tales about the dead rising. Complete nonsense, of course.”

Brave Heart grunted. “Anything more on Grumpy?”

Smart Heart shook her head. “Nothing new. No change in response and we still can't get close enough for anything more than visual observation. Even that's not good. As near as I can tell from cursory examination, Grumpy's running entirely on lower brain function. It's as though all the rest of it has simply shut down. Don't ask me what caused it, or how he can even walk, but there it is.”

Brave Heart looked past Smart Heart into the infirmary. Three bodies lay still on their beds, the sheets draped over them only mildly discolored where dark fluids from wounds soaked into the fabric. Cheer sobbed against Hopeful's shoulder while Tenderheart rubbed her back.

“As soon as is medically sound, I'd like you to release the bodies for burial. We'll hold the funerals at dusk. And be sure to notify me immediately with any new developments.”  


Smart Heart nodded.

* * *

The screams echoing down the corridor made Brave Heart's fur stand up on end. Had he bothered to look into a mirror, he was sure he'd have seemed quite fluffy. But fluffy was certainly not something he felt at the moment.

Incoherent shouts joined the screaming as Brave Heart pelted through the corridors. Even as he drew closer, the noise remained dissonant. He rounded a corner and skidded to a stop. The sight before him would have made him violently ill had it not also been mind-numbingly horrifying.

Two bears—Love-a-Lot and Funshine, from the look of them—knelt on the floor, gnawing on a third bear. It was Cheer. She craned her head toward Brave Heart. Her expression, a strange mixture of terror and agony, was one he would never forget for the rest of his days. She reached out feebly toward him, her arm and head going slack moments later.

Wish had Hopeful pinned a wall, chewing on her blood-soaked neck.

Secret stepped up behind Wish and hit her in the back with a board. Wish immediately released Hopeful, and turned on Secret. Hopeful grabbed her neck wound, blood gushing out around her paws. She sagged down the wall and slumped to the floor, coughing up blood before collapsing.

Secret screamed as Wish's teeth sank into her flesh. Wish drove her to the floor, heedless of the paws and claws pounding against her body. She continued to flail and scream amid the horrible slurping sounds the others made.

Love-a-Lot and Funshine looked up at Brave Heart. Blood covered their muzzles, bits of Cheer's flesh hung from their jaws, and they held more of it between their paws. They stared at him for a few moments with vacant eyes. A terrible, hollow moan rose from their throats. They lurched upright, then stepped awkwardly toward him.

Brave Heart turned and ran. A minute later, he ran full on into Smart Heart. Both tumbled to the floor.

“Brave Heart?” said Smart Heart, climbing back to her feet. “What's wrong?”

“I...they...you...we...” Brave Heart stammered.

“Brave Heart, get a hold of yourself! Now, what seems to be the trouble?” she asked patiently.

“I...I don't know,” he managed to say.

“You don't know? You're more worked up than I've seen anyone and you don't know?”

Brave Heart slowed his breathing with a force of will. He recounted what he'd seen. Smart Heart's eyes widened by the moment.

“By Ursa!”

“Smart Heart, we need to go directly to Defcon-Two!”


	4. Chapter 4

Brave Heart looked from one worried face to the next as paws fiddled with objects or the surface of the Round Table. Nearly everyone in the building had gathered. While a few were missing, it was still standing room only.

“Friends,” said Brave Heart, his voice forcibly calm in stark contrast to his mind, “we have a very serious problem. Perhaps even the worst thing we've ever faced. As I hope you're all aware, we are at DefCon-Two. Most of the rumors you've heard are probably true.”

He and Smart Heart proceeded to relay the events of the previous twenty-four hours, beginning with that visit to Grumpy's hovel, and culminating with the attack by the presumably dead bears. A prolonged silence followed.

Good Luck Bear raised his paw. “I don't understand,” he said. “Didn't you say Love-a-Lot, Funshine, and Secret were dead? So how could they be walking around and...and biting the others?”

“That's a very good question,” said Smart Heart. “And if I could get close enough to one of them for an examination without being attacked, maybe I could tell you more. But I'm telling you, they had no pulses. The only reasonable explanation is that they were in some kind of deep coma. But that aggression is...” She shuddered. “...very disturbing, to say the least.”

Murmurs of agreement bounced about the room.

“All we really know so far is that whatever it is that Grumpy has, it's transmitted by biting and has a roughly twenty-four hour cycle.”

“So,” said Tenderheart, “if we could...uh...isolate one of them, could you then conduct your tests?”

“In theory.”

“But,” said Brave Heart, “that's going to be tricky. The trouble with castles is that they're invariably designed to keep things out, rather than in. Which means we won't be able to trap them in a particular section simply by closing a few doors. And that's why we need a plan that goes beyond the usual method of barring the gates and hoping they don't have trebuchets.”

“I get it,” said Surprise, “we sneak up on them, right?”

“Almost. We've seen that Grumpy, and presumably the others, will relentlessly pursue any of us until they catch us. Which means it should be fairly straightforward to draw them out to some place where we can capture them.”

“Are you suggesting that a few of us are going to have be...decoys? Who's going to volunteer for _that_?”

“Share your pain,” said Share, “and draw strength from the sharing.”

“Has it ever occurred to you,” said Superstar, “that not everything is meant to be shared?”

“Says the bear who's obsessed with fame and fortune,” said Messy.

“Alright,” said Brave Heart, “let's get back to business, shall we? So, here's what I'm thinking....”

* * *

Brave Heart leaned heavily on the stout forked staff he'd hacked clumsily from one of the courtyard's pear trees and let out a heavy breath. He glanced left and right. Most of the others, holding staves of their own, fidgeted nervously. He nodded to Surprise and Superstar. The pair ducked through a doorway and into shadow.

Time crawled. A light sheen of perspiration beaded up on his paws and he wiped them off on his fur. He watched the shadows creep across the clipped grass. It would have felt like any other afternoon, if not for Grumpy's faint moaning drifting from the gate.

A scream shattered what passed for calm. Brave Heart tensed, lowering his staff. Superstar staggered out of the doorway. Even from across the courtyard, Brave Heart could see that his ear was missing, blood matting the surrounding fur. He paused, then broke into a frantic run.

He stopped right in front of Brave Heart, and stood there panting hard, the unbridled terror on his face unmistakable. “They...they...they...” he stammered.

A moan floated through the doorway, the sound making his fur stand on end as it had the first time he'd heard it. One by one, the afflicted bears lurched into the sunlight. That was the best way to describe it.

Love-a-Lot, Funshine, and Wish tottered across the grass, Hopeful, Secret, and Cheer staggering behind them. The first three bears' wounds had dried. Hopeful's gaping neck wound still looked damp, though the blood matted to her fur had dried. Cheer's own entrails dangled from her flayed-open abdomen, dragging along the ground behind her. Fresh blood glinted off of all six muzzles.

Brave Heart felt his jaw drop.

“Superstar, you idiot!” said Too Loud. “You were supposed to get _one_ of them!”

“Too Loud,” said Oopsy tentatively, “please don't...”

“Whatever,” snapped Too Loud.

“Cheer...” squeaked Tenderheart.

“I know, I know,” said Brave Heart firmly.

The afflicted bears fanned out, each staggering directly toward whichever other bear was closest, that hideous moan rising from their throats.

“I don't think this is going to work,” said Smart Heart. “There are too many of them.”

“We outnumber them. Let's get to work!”

Brave Heart and three other bears fanned out around Love-a-Lot. Her vacant eyes locked onto Sweet Sakura and she lurched in her direction. Sakura braced her own forked staff against Love-a-Lot's belly. The tines dug into fur, then into flesh. Love-a-Lot ignored it, groping for Sakura.

Brave Heart, Friend, and Birthday swung their staves around next to Sakura's, fighting for leverage. Love-a-Lot pushed back, much harder than Brave Heart would have expected. Sakura lost her footing and fell on her face. Her staff plowed into the soil beside her, then snapped. Brave Heart's staff twisted in his paws, the butt end catching him in the ribs. Then Love-a-Lot was on top of Sakura. She screamed.

A second scream come from the left, then another from the right.

Sakura's scream turned into a frantic cry of pain and fear. Brave Heart wrenched his staff free and plunged it into Love-a-Lot's back, between her lower ribs and pelvis. She didn't respond. He pulled it out, then shoved it into a lower leg, then heaved back, pulling Love-a-Lot off of Sakura.

Friend grabbed Sakura's paws and pulled her away. Her back was bleeding from a fresh bite wound just above her rump.

Love-a-Lot rolled awkwardly toward Brave Heart. The staff in her leg was in the way, but she didn't seem to notice. She just groped for Brave Heart. He stepped back out of the way.

“Love-a-Lot,” said Birthday, “what are you...?” He cut off as Love-a-Lot grabbed his leg and bit down hard. He screamed and lurched backward, leaving a chunk of flesh in Love-a-Lot's mouth. His next step on his injured leg failed and he fell hard onto the turf. Love-a-Lot reached for him.

Brave Heart snatched Birthday's staff, then rammed it through Love-a-Lot's side, pinning her to the ground. She continued reaching for Birthday. Brave Heart stepped back, then whirled around.

All about the courtyard, the same thing repeated itself over and over. Each of the afflicted bears had attacked and bitten at least one other and in most cases, continued to pursue them despite what should have been fresh and debilitating wounds.

“Care Bears, _reatreat!_ ” Brave Heart bellowed.

He stepped around Love-a-Lot, dodging a grope, grasped Birthday by both paws and dragged him toward a door.

Love-a-Lot pushed herself up from the ground, the staff tearing out from her side and leaving two large holes. The others retreated from the courtyard in a similarly haphazard manner, some dragging the wounded, others wounded themselves. A few lay motionless on the ground while an afflicted bear chewed on them. It was a blood-bath.


End file.
